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KITCHENER — Kitchener Minor Baseball has upped its game by adding a state-of-the-art batting cage at Breithaupt Park.
The baseball association, which has about 1,500 house league and rep players, will unveil a new five-tunnel batting cage adjacent to the Breithaupt Centre in Kitchener with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Saturday at 12:30 p.m.
“Everybody loves it,” said Ken Schilling, facility and equipment convener for the association. “The centres from out of town look at it and think it’s unbelievable.”
Schilling got the idea for the caged complex seven years ago when he saw a similar structure while one of the association’s teams was playing ball in Michigan.
Since then, the project has been a labour of love involving countless people and a ton of fundraising.
Schilling said Mark Karlsen, a fellow Kitchener Minor Baseball Association member, was key in seeing the project completed during a trying pandemic-driven economy.
“I had the idea and he had all the contacts and really built it,” Schilling said.
The City of Kitchener donated the land, RIM Park supplied the artificial turf and the Kitchener Sports Association was a major financial donor, said Schilling.
Seven years of fundraising from parents and players also helped the batting cage become a reality.
The facility, which cost about $300,000, can be used as five individual batting tunnels or cleared for one larger surface to work on ground balls and pitching. Lights allow workouts into the evening.
The extra practice space is pivotal for the association, especially with diamond time scarce around Waterloo Region. It also gives teams flexibility in the spring when waterlogged surfaces keep fields closed.
“We can use it right up until the weather says we can’t,” said Schilling.
Game days will also be easier at Breithaupt Park since clubs can practise in the cage while the park’s three diamonds are being used.
“We were really running short on diamonds for practices,” said Schilling. “Now we can put two teams in there and have batting practice.”
SYDFIT ADDS SECOND LOCATION: Retired professional boxer and current trainer Syd Vanderpool is opening a second fitness facility in Waterloo Region. Vanderpool, who currently runs SydFIT Health Centre on King Street in Kitchener, is adding to his empire with SydFIT Platinum on Church Street West in Elmira. According to a news release, the new location, which opens July 1, will be “focused on building holistic wellness and providing pain management solutions to support overall health for personal training clients.” The new facility will offer professional trainers and equipment, private and semiprivate training, pulsed electromagnetic field therapy, massage therapy, osteopathy, naturopathy, yoga, exercise therapy, and posture and movement screening.
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